


Curtain Call

by Lucky_19



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Episode: s07e11 Showtime, F/M, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25711099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucky_19/pseuds/Lucky_19
Summary: After defeating the Turok-Han, Buffy brings Spike home to treat his injuries.
Relationships: Spike/Buffy Summers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	Curtain Call

**Author's Note:**

> So, like all of my other fics (published, unpublished, and currently being written), this started as one thing and turned into something else. I'm not sure if this is a missing scene or an episode rewrite but I know that I wanted to do something with what happened after Showtime ended and Anya_Mae (best friend and beta reader extraordinaire) gave me the push I needed to make it happen. All the thanks and love to her!

Buffy held onto the hand flung over her shoulder and supported Spike with an arm around his waist, walking slowly towards their freedom. He was leaning heavily on her and she was keeping her breaths calm even as she panicked. She didn’t think she’d _stop_ panicking until they were home and Spike was patched up.

They came to a stop at the entrance where Buffy looked up through the hole exposing the night sky to them. She had made it down with little effort but there was no way Spike would be able to get up in his current state and based on the look on his face, he knew it. She gently cupped his cheek with one hand and turned his eyes to hers. “This is real. We’re getting out of here. Okay?”

He nodded and let her remove her support, leaning against the wall and watching her closely. A sharp whistle from Buffy had Xander’s face appearing over the hole and offering her a hand, which she took gratefully. The moment her feet hit the grass, she twisted and returned the gesture to Spike. Together with Xander they were able to pull the wounded vampire up and out, the three of them stumbling to the ground. Buffy landed on her back, looking up at the full scope of the stars stretching above them.

Xander recovered first, standing and wiping dirt off his pants. “The place was a madhouse when we left, Buffy,” he said, just out of her sight now that he was on his feet. “The Potentials are freaking out about that fight and it’ll only get worse if they see him. We’ll be lucky to get any sleep tonight.”

“We’ll be lucky to get any sleep before this is over,” she said. She sat up with a groan and looked over at Spike, still sprawled on his back and looking up at the sky in awe. “Xander?”

“Got it.” 

He walked off to start the car, leaving her alone with the silent vampire and the chirping crickets. She didn’t speak and crossed her legs like she had during circle time in elementary school, waiting for him to tell her when he was ready to go home. Xander would be patient. He didn’t like the guy, but he seemed to have made his peace that the vampire was a part of her life now. 

She expected Spike to ask her where the First was. She expected questions about who the Potentials were or who she had fought that had them so riled. She didn’t expect his voice to cut through the quiet, barely a murmur, and say, “I never got this far.”

Buffy let the January wind blow her hair away from her face and ran her fingers through the low grass, barely tall enough to ripple in the breeze. She could guess at what he meant, but she was finding herself more and more tired of this tiptoeing they were doing around each other. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“In the dreams,” he said. “I got to the entrance, but then you were always there. And then I’d wake up….and I never escaped at all. Even in my dreams, I couldn’t escape.”

She started pulling up stems of grass and flicking them away. “That’s why you called me a figment. Reality and your dreams and whatever the First did to you….it all bled together.” She examined one piece like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. “Did you think I wouldn’t come for you? Is that why it was able to play with you like that?”

“No. I knew you’d come. That’s what made it so painful.”

_I believe in you, Spike._

“Oh.”

A breeze swept by, stealing the grass from between her fingertips. She watched it fly away and tore up more earth while she waited for him to speak again.

“Buffy?”

“Hmm?”

“How long was I gone?”

A whole clump was yanked up this time, spraying dirt as the roots were ripped from the ground. “Forty-two days yesterday. Forty-three today, except today doesn't count, does it?” She looked over at him, beaten and bloody and staring at her like she was his salvation. “How long was it for you?”

She saw his lips twist into a soft smile for a moment before it vanished, gone as quickly as it appeared. “Longer.”

“I figured.” Buffy threw the grass aside, stood, and wiped off her hands on her pants before offering one to him. “Come on. Xander’s waiting in the car.”

Spike took it and grunted as she helped him up, returning to their positions as savior and saved as they made their way to the car. He draped his arm over Buffy’s shoulder again and she marched forward, pretending she wasn’t concerned by the way he was relying on her to support him. She was also pretty sure a few of the cuts on his chest had started bleeding again from the exertion of getting out of the hole. He was uncharacteristically quiet and her stomach swooped as she considered that the First could have driven him insane again despite how lucid he seemed seconds ago. After all, he’d been lucid when they went after the snake and then all of a sudden... “Spike?”

“Yeah, love?”

She didn’t know what to say. He seemed to understand.

Xander held the back door open for them, ready to step in should Buffy need help situating the vampire in the car. She didn’t buckle him up in case it irritated his wounds, but she was otherwise satisfied he wouldn’t earn any new injuries on the ride home.

“Buffy.” Fingers curled around her wrist and she paused, shooting Xander a look making it clear he shouldn’t step in. She could handle whatever this was. “Could you….Would you let me….” His thumb gently stroked the inside of her wrist and suddenly she understood. “Can you keep doing this?”

“Touching you?”

“I never got to touch you when I was in there,” he whispered. “Not in my dreams, not when the First looked like you, not…. I just need to know you’re real. That all of this is really happening.”

Buffy felt her heart shatter into a million pieces and slid into the seat beside him, twining their fingers together and letting him lean against her when the car lurched into motion beneath them. “It’s all real, Spike. We’re going home.”

\--------------------------------------

Buffy stared out the car at her house. Light spilled from the window and every so often she’d see a teenage girl run by. “Those the Potentials?” Spike asked. She’d done her best to explain the situation during the car ride and, based on his nods and eye rolls, she’d done a pretty good job.

“Those are the Potentials. There’s only five now, but we’re anticipating more.”

“Five?”

“Kennedy, Molly, Vi, Chloe, and Rona,” Xander said, twisting in the seat to look at them. “We only have so long before someone notices we’re here, Buff. What’s the plan?”

“I can’t answer any questions,” she said, shaking her head. They all knew she was going to get Spike, but she hadn’t told anyone except Xander that she was doing it that night. The last thing she wanted was to be greeted at the door by a gaggle of girls begging to interview the vampire. As far as anyone knew, the two of them were getting groceries. “Do you think you can cover us and we’ll sneak in through the back?”

“You got it.”

She watched Xander walk up the sidewalk and vanish through the front door. Wasting no time, Buffy threw open the car door and helped Spike out. He half-limped, half-ran with her past the house, ducking as they passed by the living room windows where she could see Xander talking to the women with exaggerated hand movements. She relaxed once they were firmly in the backyard and took her time helping him up the steps. “Are you holding up okay?”

“Think I’ve started bleeding again,” he admitted, clutching her tightly. She squeezed his hand once before releasing it and opening the door into the kitchen and helped him inside one handed, supporting him with the arm wrapped around his waist.

Someone squeaked and Buffy looked up in surprise to see Dawn standing on the other side of the island with wide eyes and a cup in her hand. “I thought you were in the living room,” the Slayer whispered.

“I came to get a drink of water.” Her eyes never left the vampire. “I thought you said you were getting groceries.”

“I didn’t want to deal with the questions about him from the Potentials.”

“Oh.” Dawn fidgeted in place as though she wanted to move towards him but was too scared to commit to the motion. Instead, she put the glass on the island and tried not to look too long at any one wound. “You….You look….”

“I’m alright, Nibblet,” Spike said. “It looks worse than it is.”

Surprising the Slayer and the vampire, Dawn started crying. She covered her mouth with one hand in an attempt to stifle her sobs. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I never should have said….Spike, I’m so sorry. If you had died-”

“Dawn,” he said firmly, the combination use of her real name and tone of his voice silencing her. “I didn’t die. Your sis is gonna patch me up and I’ll be right as rain. Okay?”

“I….Can I?”

Buffy shifted underneath Spike’s weight. “Dawn, I have to-”

“It’s alright, Buffy,” he said gently. “If it’ll make her feel better, then-” He broke off with a soft groan as Dawn embraced him and he used the arm not thrown over the Slayer’s shoulder to wrap around the teenager.

After a moment, she sniffled and stepped away, swiping at her cheeks. “It’s not as bad as it looks?” Spike nodded. “Okay. Okay, can I help with anything?” her voice shook as she looked between the vampire and the Slayer.

“You could open the door for me?” Buffy said hopefully. Dawn nodded and rushed over, swinging open the basement entrance. “And microwave some blood?”

“Yeah. I can do that.”

Buffy made her way slowly down the stairs with Spike. Once they reached the bottom, she heard Dawn close the door behind them. “You put a cot in,” he said with surprise.

“I figured you’d be in rough shape.” She helped ease him onto the mattress, then crouched in front of him, one hand resting on his thigh. “Xander and I put it in before we left.”

He fell silent, allowing her to examine his injuries. One eye appeared severely bruised and swollen shut, his chest was decorated with strange markings that had been carved into his skin, and his hair was a complete mess of curls, almost as though it had been wetted and dried repeatedly. And that was only what she could see. She had a growing suspicion the First had preferred mental attacks to physical harm.

“I need to go get the blood,” she said. “That’ll help, right? With the healing and everything?”

“It’ll help.”

“I’ll be back,” she said, hoping her honesty came across. “This is real and I will be back. Okay?”

“Okay, love.”

Reluctantly, she turned and walked up the stairs. Dawn was leaning against the counter and staring at the mug of blood on the island as though it held the secrets of the universe. Her cheeks were still wet with drying tears. “He lied to me,” she said softly. Buffy brushed past her and grabbed a clear bowl and a dish towel “Didn’t he? He’s in really bad shape.”

“He’s not-”

“Buffy. I can handle the truth.”

“Yeah, Dawnie,” she replied with a sigh, filling up the bowl with water from the sink as quietly as possible. “He lied. He doesn’t want you to worry about him, that’s all.”

“I know.” She hesitated a moment before she asked, “He’s going to be okay, right?”

Buffy lifted the towel and turned the sink off. “He will if I have anything to say about it. Can you get me an ice pack?”

“What are you going to tell everyone?” Dawn opened the freezer and pulled out a blue ice pack. Buffy slung the towel over one shoulder and took it from her sister.

“You can tell them, if you want. Now that he’s here, it doesn’t really matter if they know. They aren’t getting into the basement without going through me first.” Her gaze landed on the mug. “Shit. Okay, can you get bandages for me, and then bring them and this down? Cleaning the wounds and getting blood in him is the most important-.”

“I’ve got it Buffy. You want the salve, too?”

She swapped out the ice pack for the mug and offered Dawn a grateful smile. “Yes, please. You’re the best.”

Dawn shrugged one shoulder with a smile that looked almost natural. “I know, I’m pretty great. Now go help your vampire.”

Buffy returned to the basement and shoved away the implications of Dawn’s words to be examined at a later time. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found Spike exactly as she’d left him. “I’m back,” she said softly, placing the bowl on the floor next to her. He took the mug gratefully and nearly downed it all in one gulp. “See? I told you.”

“I guess you did.”

She dipped the towel in the water and shifted onto her knees, swiping at the cuts on his chest and washing away the blood. “Am I hurting you?”

“Did you know a vampire can drown just as easily as a human?”

Buffy felt her blood run cold at his sudden question and she froze. “No. I didn’t.”

“Me either. Can’t tell you how many times I passed out ‘cause its friend was having too much fun.” He swallowed as she resumed her gentle strokes. “That wasn’t the worst part though. The cuts and bruises I could handle, it was the mind games that got to me. I knew it wasn’t you and Dru but it didn’t make it hurt any less when I could hear you two telling me exactly where the knife was going next.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wanted to go sooner but the Turok-Han was-”

“Buffy, love.” He took her hand in his, stilling her movements. “This isn’t your fault. You found me in the end, didn’t you? Isn’t that all that matters?”

_Spike? Sorry, I'm confused. He's that vampire who's been killing people, right? He's the one you're worried about helping?_

_Well, we need him to—he's the one that's been—it's complicated, Chloe._

“Is it?”

_It's only a matter of time before you realize I'm the only one here for you, pet._

“It told me you wouldn’t,” he said softly. “It told me you had no reason to come for me. But you did. That’s all that matters, Buffy. You came. You….you believed in me.”

_I believe in you, Spike._

She did. She believed in him. She knew he could be a good person if he tried, she was watching him try every day despite the universe urging him to return to who he had been. But there was more to it than that. What was it Dawn had said? _Now go help your vampire._

Her vampire. And wasn’t that the truth? Even if she decided she didn’t want him, he’d always be hers. He didn’t have it in him to be anyone else’s and she….she didn’t want him to be. She needed, _wanted_ him at her side in every sense of the phrase. Funny how it always seemed to take the people she loved nearly dying for her to realize just how much she needed them in her life.

“Buffy?” Dawn’s voice called from the top of the stairs. “I have the stuff you wanted.”

“Come on down, Dawn,” she said, stepping back and examining her work. The blood was pretty much entirely gone, leaving a much less gruesome sight for her sister to see. Buffy took the salve and bandages and got to work. “Put the ice pack on his eye. Hopefully it will help with some of the swelling.”

“The Potentials are kind of freaking out upstairs. You’re going to have to deal with some wigged girls when you go back in there.”

Buffy picked up the mug and handed it to Dawn. “Blood. Now.”

“You’ve got it.”

She rolled her eyes, finishing the last bandage and standing up. “She’s nuts if she thinks I’m going back up there tonight.”

“You’re not?”

Slowly, she bent down and gently kissed his split lip. “No. I’m not.”

“Now I know this is a dream.”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “Not a dream. Just me realizing you’re right. I believed in you and I kept coming up with stupid excuses for why we needed to save you when really it was just that I….I needed you here. I _wanted_ you here.”

“Buffy-”

She sat next to him and laced their fingers together. “Do you believe me that this is real yet?”

“I think that if this is your response to me being tortured, I should do it more often.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “I’m being serious.”

“So am I.”

“Oh my God, scoot over. I just kicked ubervamp ass and I’m _not_ sleeping on the floor.”

“Dawn is-”

“Not going to be surprised. She’s the one who told me you were mine.”

He looked at her with such a mix of emotions, she couldn’t sort through all of them. She saw glimpses of amusement and fear, flickers of disbelief and hope, and, burning brighter than all of it, his love for her. “Yours, huh?”

“Yeah.” She snuggled into his side as best as she could while minding his injuries so she didn’t make them bleed again. “Mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Buffy and Spike parallel their conversation from After Life and remembered dialogue comes from Smashed, Never Leave Me, and Showtime


End file.
